• Publication: The Athens Observer (Athens, Georgia)
• Author: Elton Manzione
• Original Publication Date: Thursday, June 20, 1996

According to informed sources, the Athens-Clarke County Police Department is following through on a new lead in the Jennifer Stone murder investigation. In addition, authorities have begun to retrace previous investigative steps in an effort to put the four-year-old investigation back on the fast track.

Police spoke on Thursday June 13, with one of two federal prisoners who had contacted The Athens Observer with information on the Stone murder. His name was given to authorities by the Observer, along with a sketch of the information he had provided to the paper.

The prisoner contends Stone was murdered by an individual connected with a local drug gang. The gang was a family operation run by two Athens brothers who were allegedly protected by drug enforcement authorities as informants.

He also contends that local attorney Ed Tolley had a hand in covering up parts of the gang’s illegal activities, including the murder. Tolley is shown in court records as being the attorney of record for at least two of the men.

One of the men, Alvin Willoughby, had a long record of drug offenses when he was arrested in February of 1992 on charges of carrying a concealed weapon, possession of cocaine, possession of a firearm in the commission of a crime, DUI, and possession of an item with an altered serial number. Several of the charges were dismissed prior to indictment, and a Notice of Intent to Seek Life Imprisonment was entered in June of 1992. The notice cited two previous offenses of possession with intent to distribute cocaine in October of 1989 and sale of cocaine in March of 1989. Just 12 days later, on June 23, 1992 the state moved to drop prosecution of Willoughby on the charges.

By July of the following year Willoughby was again indicted on similar charges, and once again District Attorney Harry Gordon moved to have the prosecution dropped on the grounds Willoughby had pleaded guilty to a similar set of charges. Under Willoughby’s plea agreement, he was allowed to plead no contest to a lesser offense of cocaine possession. In October of 1993, he was sentenced to two years probation, and he was issued a certificate of parole in February of 1995.

Willoughby’s brother Melvin was mentioned by the source as a key player in the murder. Melvin was represented by Tolley in another set of crimes echoing brother Alvin’s charges: two counts of violating the Georgia controlled substances act and one count of possession of a firearm during the commission of a crime.

Statements provided to the Observer by the prisoner assert it was Melvin who had Jennifer Stone killed, and he asserts it was Marlon Taylor who actually killed the 22-year-old co-ed in her Hull Street apartment.

Taylor had been arrested, tried, and acquitted in 1993 for the murder-kidnapping of two women from Elberton.

The source said Taylor had offered Mel Willoughby a camera as evidence—a way of saying, “I done what you told me.” He said he realized the camera was the one he had heard Willoughby discussing with Tolley.

He said he heard Tolley tell Willoughby, “If you can stay out of Hell, I’ll keep you out of jail.”

The prisoner asserts Tolley then asked Willoughby if “anybody else knew about the Stone girl.”

Tolley reportedly told Willoughby to stay away from Michael Gaines and said he (Tolley) would tell Gaines to stay away from him.

Tolley then allegedly told Willoughby that people would be mad “if the police don’t come up with something.” Willoughby is then alleged to have asked Tolley “what are you going to do about Johnson?” And Tolley reportedly replied “let me call Judge Gaines, he will do that much. Call me at home tonight.”

Johnson is 35-year-old Richard Daryl Johnson of Ft. Myers, Florida, who was indicted along with two others in March of 1992 and charged with trafficking in illegal drugs after the three were caught with a half-ounce of heroin and more than $4000 in cash. Johnson was alleged to have been working with Melvin Willoughby.

During a subsequent bond hearing, it was learned that Johnson, known as “Ricky-Dicky” or “Downtown Dicky” had been a paid informant for the Drug Enforcement Agency and had gotten more than $140,000 in payment from the agency.

Maneuvering in Johnson’s trial and those of his two co-defendants, one represented by Tolley, dragged on for more than two years before charges against Johnson were dropped by District Attorney Harry Gordon in November of 1994.

During trial motions, it was also learned Johnson had been connected with a double homicide in Florida. One of his co-defendants, Kim Hardman, who had been represented by Tolley, pleaded guilty, receiving a six-month sentence after testifying at the trial of the third.

That person, C.V. Giddings, was the brother of another man who, records show, was involved with the Florida homicide. Giddings was acquitted on all charges after Hardman’s testimony failed to convince a jury. Most of Giddings’ case file is sealed, and records show the Assistant U.S. Attorney for the Middle District of Georgia filed an emergency motion to quash a defense subpoena of a DEA agent.

While Tolley’s connections with Johnson are tenuous, his connections with the Willoughbys are stronger. Melvin was reportedly living in a house once listed as Tolley’s residence at 101 Massey Lane. Bryant Gantt, an investigator for Tolley and a first cousin of the Willoughbys currently resides at the address, and tax records list the residence as owned by Tolley.

Another source said he had overheard a jail house phone call from Alvin Willoughby to Tolley and was later told by Alvin that nothing would come of the Stone case because it “was taken care of by someone with a lot of power and it could never be proven.”

Several persons previously contacted by police have also told The Athens Observer they’ve been contacted again by law enforcement personnel.

“You may not have solved the case,” one said, “but you’ve certainly gotten them on it.”